Adventures in Italy

People have asked about my "adventures" in Italy, and I am going to disappoint them saying, "sorry, no adventures, only knitting and eating". You see, for me, over there is "home", the place where everything feels "normal". Crazy traffic? Of course. Cars not stopping when you cross the street? Why should they? A castle few miles from my house? Well, I am sure it has been there for a while, several hundreds years. No, it is not that old, I think that it less than a thousand years. No, you do not leave a tip for the waiter, they have a salary with full benefits for their job. Of course the tax are included in the sale price, why not?

We were staying at my parents' summer house, on the seaside just north of Roma. The house has a huge backyard with a large patio, we basically lived outside. The beach is just across the street. My parents always rent a couple of "ombrelloni" (large sun umbrella) and "lettini" (lounge style beach chair), so all I did every day was laying there, and knit. Playing on the beach (sand, yuk!) with the kids is HWME's job, and there were plenty of grandparents, uncles, and aunts happy to pinch in. The sea (it's not an ocean, it's a sea) is very warm, and swallow for at least 50 meters, so it is pretty safe for them to play in the water.

I did go into the city several times, mostly when we needed a break from the "under five" population at the summer house. Given that in addition to Paperino and Principessa, my nephew (almost 4) and niece (18 months) from Berkeley, and my nephew from Roma (almost 3) were there, and another two nieces (18 months and 3 years) were visiting often, at any given time it was very likely that there was child crying or upset for some reason. The good news was that it was not one of mine (the big kids), so not my problem!

Knitting? I finished the Mountain Stream Shawl:



a present for my mom and very much appreciated. I started and finished the Flower Basket Shawl:



but I did not wear at my brother's wedding as planned - the day before the wedding I fall in love with a different skirt, I bought it, so my outfit went from brown and white to black and white. But Principessa did wear the white poncho I made for her:



I finished my stashbuster shawl as well, but no photo because it is still in Italy with Principessa. As I said before, I found out I can make a sock in 9 hours:



I did make the second one coming back, plus this one:



since SF to Roma is more than 9 hours.

I am sure I am forgetting something I knit while over there, but that's it for now.